Neighbors,
Some of you may be aware of transportation demand management (TDM), which is an approach to improving mobility by reducing vehicle demand instead of adding capacity. It includes initiatives to help employees and residents find ways to commute other than one person, one car during peak traffic times.
Select people have received an invitation from the Austin Transportation Department (ATD) to attend a workshop on TDM, with a focus on downtown, taking place Thursday, March 21st from 8:30 am to noon. The workshop is by invitation only. Details are here on the FAN calendar.
If you would like to attend, I can delegate my spot or suggest that ATD add you to the invitation list. If you attend on behalf of FAN, please be mindful of the positions FAN’s membership has (and has not) adopted, which are on the Votes page, and be prepared to report back to the group on what transpired at the workshop.
I thought @montunos would be a good voice to include, especially as it relates to parking spaces and the “induced demand” they create.
Roger
I would be happy to attend. Thank you for considering me.
Regarding the “Votes page” do we have a slightly easier to read version of our specific goals/agenda?
Maybe this could relate to Chris’s call to act on specific ideas.
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Great. I suggested you as a stakeholder affiliated with FAN.
As for a simpler list of positions FAN has taken, versus the Votes page, good idea. It wasn’t a big deal for the first year or so, but now it isn’t easy to sift through all the votes.
We should probably capture them in a Google sheet or something and then have that sheet published to the website in a simple and consumable format. Other ideas welcome.
Roger
Great. I’ll be City Library tomorrow. Is anyone else from FAN going?
What is our position on FAR and parking? (Currently developers can build multilevel parking without penalty to their FAR limit. More freedom to build housing for cars than for people.) I personally see that as one of the reasons downtown developers haven’t taken advantage of the no parking requirements. As much as I want to suggest this policy change (make parking accounted in FAR), I don’t want to tread into non-FAN territory at this meeting.
Regarding Votes Page: I suggest we have a completely new page called “Action Points” or the like. A reader’s digest of what we are promoting, essentially our agenda. I’d go as far as prioritizing the list by group vote via what Chris is doing.
David
Yes, action points or even a “platform” that consists of the adopted FAN positions would make sense. How would you feel about taking the lead on a “FAN Platform and Adopted Positions” Google doc and beginning the work of reviewing the Votes pages, transcribing a summary into the doc?
FAN hasn’t taken a position on whether to include parking in FAR calculations. However, I wouldn’t feel too constrained by explicit positions FAN has taken; you can always raise the issue without representing it as an official FAN position.
As for the Downtown Focused TDM Workshop, the staff replied to my suggestions of representatives of various groups (including FAN) who should receive invitations to participate. Unfortunately, the reply simply identified two people who had already received invitations, and it gave no indication that staff intended to invite additional people I had suggested.
Did you receive an invitation, David?
Roger
Roger,
I did not receive a direct invitation so I’m glad I checked in. Then I shan’t go (despite the opportunity to look like the Graduate against the glass window.)
As far as the platform - “I will try.” The votes page seems a little daunting to interpret (hence my suggestion.) One approach, not to keep dragging Chris into this, is to continue with his work on setting priorities for FAN and working from there. Referencing the vote page and adding the other items and goals as we go along, until we have a complete consumable platform.
I missed the last meeting so I apologize if I’m not up to date with planning around Chris’s initiative.
(When is the board meeting next?)
David